We’d been told months before that acclaimed artist Mike Hewson would be installing some conversation-starting sculptures made of sandstone and the native Illawarra palms.

But the palm-up-a-pole was a secret, only unveiled to the public once it had been strung up, resplendent in the air.

The reaction online was swift and brutal.

But heading out into the mall to chat to real life punters, I found an equal number of supporters and detractors. And – more importantly – everyone who walked past had their eyes turned skywards, pondering what on earth that tree was doing all the way up there.